ECD Announces Fourth Round of Select Tennessee Certified Sites

Thursday, December 12, 2013 | 04:04am

NASHVILLE—The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development announced the next four Select Tennessee Certified Sites. The Select Tennessee program was launched in June 2012 with the goal of helping Tennessee communities prepare available sites for investment and expansion. The program sets a consistent and rigorous standard upon which companies can rely in making critical location decisions. To date, 26 greenfield sites have been certified and new facilities are being located at Select Tennessee Certified Sites in Benton, Dyer and Montgomery Counties. The four newest sites are:

"With 26 certified sites to choose from, Tennessee offers companies a wide range of developable properties across our state that have been vetted and certified to international standards by world-class site selection firms Austin Consulting and The Foote Consulting Group," ECD Commissioner Bill Hagerty said. "With new facilities being located at Select Tennessee sites in Benton, Dyer and Montgomery counties, the investment made by state and local governments in these sites is already producing results. These Select Tennessee Certified Sites assure top decision makers their site will be operational in the shortest possible timeframe. I congratulate all of our new Select Tennessee Certified Sites and their communities."

The program acknowledges that companies looking to expand or relocate their operations often eliminate less-prepared sites and addresses this issue by ensuring sites meet a specific standard. Among the qualifications needed to become certified, a site must have at least 20 developable acres, proper zoning in place to allow for ease of development, all utilities at the site or a formal plan to extend to the site, and truck-quality road access.

A hallmark of the program is ensuring that Tennessee sites are ready for development, whether through marketing those ready for a prospect or providing guidance for uncertified sites to achieve a higher level of preparedness.

ECD has partnered with Austin Consulting and The Foote Consulting Group to administer the program.

“Site readiness is increasingly more important for communities seeking to attract new business investment. Decision timeframes continue to shorten and companies have become more risk-averse in their facilities strategies,” Austin Consulting Location Consultant Brandon Talbert said. “One of the key benefits of site certification is risk minimization through a careful due diligence and documentation process that thoroughly addresses important site attributes related to transportation access, utility service, environmental considerations, and many other important characteristics.”

“Expanding companies and site selectors alike want to see sites that are ready to go right now and often do not have the time to go through a lengthy review process”, Foote Consulting Group, LLC President and CEO, Deane C. Foote said. “The Select Tennessee Certified Sites program assures these companies and site selectors that they are seeing some of the very best sites in the nation, the ‘cream of the crop’, all ready to go now. The result will be more successful project locations, more jobs and more capital investment for Tennessee.”

There are now 26 Select Tennessee Certified Sites available in 19 different counties across the state. The Select Tennessee program accepts applications twice a year. Applications are due for the next round by January 17, 2014; however, interested communities must begin the formal application process by sending in their letter of intent. The letter of intent can be sent in by email to Select.Tennessee@tn.gov at any time. Communities interested in applying to the Certified Sites program can visit www.SelectTennessee.com.

About the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community DevelopmentThe Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development’s mission is to develop strategies, which help make Tennessee the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high quality jobs. The department seeks to attract new corporate investment in Tennessee and works with Tennessee companies to facilitate expansion and economic growth. Find us on the web: tn.gov/ecd. Follow us on Twitter: @tnecd. Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/tnecd.